Coaches Vs. Cancer night saw the Marysville-Pilchuck Tomahawks boys basketball team best the Arlington Eagles by a final score of 60-53.

The night started off with a moving pre-game ceremony, which focused on the “Honorary Coaches” of the night: members of the Arlington and Marysville communities whose loved ones had or are currently battling cancer.

“The pre-game is super emotional,” said Arlington assistant coach and physics teacher Nathan Davis. “It gets to them, [the students] and I think it moves them in a lot of ways. It’s a pretty cool thing.”

Among the Honorary Coaches were AHS yearbook editor and fellow member of the Eagle, John Yeager, as well as Rochelle Berg, a senior at AHS who helps manage the basketball team.

“A bunch of emotions just hit you, and it’s almost overwhelming, but I enjoy it,” said Berg of the ceremony.

The meaning of the night weighed on everyone’s mind as the game got going. In what would be their only lead of the night, Arlington struck first, putting a quick two on the board. But MP soon battled back to go up 7-2 with four minutes left in the first quarter.  By the end of the first, MP would lead the game 13-6.

Shortly after checking into the game in the second quarter, senior Jalen Profit put four on the board for Arlington. In the quarter, Arlington started to pass the ball more and looked to the three ball, with seniors Donavan Sellgren and Aaron Carlson both hitting threes in the quarter. But it still wasn’t enough, as Arlington left the court at half time trailing by six, 31-25.

MP came out strong in the second half, going up by eleven points at one point in the third quarter. But Arlington stormed back, and, aided by Sellgren’s back-to-back threes in the fourth and a flagrant foul called on MP that sent junior Drew Bryson to the line, Arlington knotted the score up at 47.

In the final minutes of the game, it was a tense battle between both teams. With just two minutes left in the game, Bryson hit a long three that cut MP’s lead to four. But after a few missed shots, MP was able to pull away, eventually winning with a final score of 60-53.

“It was a tough loss,” said Sellgren, who finished the night with 21 points. “They just out-hustled us out tonight.”